Ocalan plugs into Hollywood

Saturday

Feb 12, 2011 at 12:01 AM

A documentary produced last year by former Ocala businessman-turned-actor Cam MacGregor takes a look at many electric car options.

By Rick AllenStaff writer

If you think $3 a gallon is a lot for gasoline, just wait. The forecast is for $4 this spring.And “if we stay on the path we're on, by 2012 — just in time for the presidential election — voters could be paying $5 a gallon for gasoline,” John Hofmeister, ex-president of Shell Oil, told ABC News earlier this week.Yikes!A few years ago when gas prices blew past the $3 mark, public interest in hybrid and electric cars surged. The hybrid Toyota Prius is a best-seller, with nearly a million purchased in the United States since 1997, according to Toyota. There are dozens of lesser-known types of electric cars available.A documentary produced last year by former Ocala businessman-turned-actor Cam MacGregor takes a look at many of them. His film, “What is the Electric Car?” debuts on DVD on Tuesday through Amazon.com, Best Buy, Netflix and www.nemoursmarketing.com.

The hybrid electric car market is expected to grow 23 percent annually through 2015, reports MarketResearch.com. Combined annual sales could exceed 1 million this year.And two more auto giants are joining the pack: Chevrolet's Volt, a car the company calls “an extended range electric vehicle,” won Motor Trend's Car of the Year last month. Also due soon is the Nissan Leaf, a 100 percent electric car. Neither, however, will arrive in the area until this summer.But wait! Electric cars are like golf carts, aren't they? They're slow, ugly and can't go very far unless you have a really, really long extension cord.That's what MacGregor used to think — until he encountered an electric Tesla parked near the Hollywood sign in the hills above the moviemaking capital.“There were several people there admiring the car, but nobody seemed to know what it was,” recalls MacGregor, an Ocalan who moved to Southern California a few years ago to make cowboy movies. “Heck, I didn't know what it was anymore than they did. But it occurred to me that here was an opportunity to provide people with knowledge. Make a movie about electric cars.”It didn't take long for MacGregor, 64, to find a co-producer, a director and a crew the resulting 75-minute documentary. The film premiered in December at the renowned Grauman's Egyptian Theater, the senior movie house in Hollywood.“Our theme was our newest cars at our oldest theater,” MacGregor says. A collection of electric-only cars greeted guests in the theater's courtyard.“It's a green statement. This is not a green movie,” says MacGregor, who spent more than 20 years locally in construction and home inspections.Directed by Jacksonville-born, 40-year television veteran Ken Grant, “What is the Electric Car?” takes a look at the state of the EV (electric vehicle).“This is his first production,” Grant says of MacGregor. “It was incredibly refreshing. Cam came into this with a solid background in business, which is what moviemaking should be. He's a down-to-earth, let's-do-it kind of guy, especially when I needed something as director.”“WITEC?” was filmed over eight months at the International Auto Show in Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando; producers interviewed current EV owners, advocates and other experts in the field.“We don't say it's bad or good,” MacGregor says. “We want to viewer to decide.”But the film points out EVs are just as stylish as any car on the road. Thanks to instant torque, some can beat a Ferrari off the line. They have few moving parts, almost no maintenance costs and can save owners thousands of dollars in fuel costs.A full charge costs between $2.80 to $5; on that, an EV can go 40 to 200 miles.“It's a tremendous savings for our customers,” says Progress Energy executive Rob Caldwell in the film. Progress Energy is studying EVs, and even has a number of fleet vehicles that are electric only, including a bucket truck.Ocala Electric isn't sure how the coming EVs may impact the utility or its 50,000 customers, notes Sonny Allen, a public information officer for the city of Ocala. “Somebody suggested at our last staff meeting that we need to get ready,” he adds. “Hopefully it will be a couple of years before we have to.”But advocates contend the cars shouldn't be too much of a drain on current capacity; most charging will be overnight when the power plants are operating but there's less demand.Public EV charging stations are being installed around the country; some, like at Cracker Barrels in Tennessee, assess a modest fee for the juice. One was recently installed at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Kissimmee near Walt Disney World.While not here yet, both the Volt and the Leaf are likely to generate their own interest when they finally arrive in North Central Florida.“The Leaf is awesome,” says Ocala Nissan sales associate John Webb, who test drove the car in Orlando last week. “It feels different from anything you're used to. And it's a lot bigger than I thought; it's almost the same size as the mid-size Altima.”The dealership already has a number of prospective buyers who've plunked down $100 each to get on the reservation list, he said.Palm Chevrolet's Jim Tourigney notes there's also been local interest in the Volt, which can go 40 miles before its gas engine kicks in.Some locals can't wait, though. Nearly five years ago, Mark Hazen converted his 1998 Chevy S10 pickup truck to electric.“I like it a lot,” he says, but the only downside is the batteries. At the time, the only batteries available were lead-acid. They have to be replaced about every two years.“But lithium-ion technology is getting cheaper and prices are coming down,” he says. “They're about even now,” though they weigh a third of the earlier batteries and last eight to 10 years. “My next set will be lithium.”MacGregor himself doesn't own an electric car — yet. He owns a Ford F150 pickup and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.But he's open to buying one one day.“From an old muscle car guy,” he says, “I've taken a totally different look at EVs because their performance is so good. There's so many cool choices, there's something for everyone.”Contact Rick Allen at 867-4154 or rick.allen@starbanner.com.